11-16-2006
I had a coach once who used to tell us "don't let your mouth write a check your butt can't cash."
Television news is like that sometimes. The pace is quick and words come in waves. Anchors get thrown scripts, breaking news, changes to scripts and even more breaking news with adjustments for scripts, scripts for breaking news adjustments, breaking adjustments for news, and you deal with script adjustments for local, breaking, national and international news.
Got it?
And then the day that the teleprompter breaks down. It's like baseball. With all those variables sometimes you hit a home run, and sometimes you pop up to the pitcher.
Sometimes the words that wound are self-inflicted.
*I knew an anchor once who used to pop out between the six and ten for a salad and two or six martinis. One Friday night, he emceed a charity event and overindulged by even his own prodigious standards. Being an old school tough guy, he could pull off the late show anchoring with a couple of drinks, but not this night. The first story out of the shoot was about prisoners being
"bagged and gowned" and not "gagged and bound."
*I was standing in the newsroom when an anchor I used to work with once said "they are burning this man in effigy...where is effigy." Most news people think this is an urban legend,
but I heard that one with my own earholes.
*The same anchor read a story about Meridian, Mississippi, and Yosemite National Park and pronounced them "Mare-a-Dan and Yoze-Mite."
*Worked with a guy who read the story about a crying statue of the Virgin Mary and said "Many people in the small town say they had an EP-A-Fanny." Funny...some people experience an epiphany...not an EP-A-Fanny... when they see those statues.
*One reporter was doing a courthouse live shot. He was frantically getting details in from a big trial and ran from the truck to the live location....picked up the mic and said "now joining me live is the prostituting attorney." Write your own joke.
*This one happened a long time ago. An anchor I worked with was trying to say "Sayonara Leonid Breshnev" and said "Saranada Leroy Breshnoo." So after that, every time someone asked who the interview was for a particular story, we all yelled "LEROY BRESHNOO!"
Sometimes the anchoring business is an inexact science. That's why I jealous of columnist at newspapers who just sit and bang the keyboard till they get it right. In television, we have to get it right, and get it right the first time. But remember newspaper pals...I just point that out cause I'm jealous of that advantage.
Going to the Alabama-Auburn game this weekend. More Later.
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3 comments:
my husband worked at a little local tv station once. (behind the scenes)
the host of the morning show was doing a spot about the now dead rapper tupac shakur. my husband told me that before the story, the host was trying to say tupac's name. he tried to let him know that he was pronouncing it wrong, but he wouldn't believe him.
so he went on air and proceeded to talk about too-pack shacker.
it was great. heh.
nice to see ya bloggin! :)
What about the one they had on a bloopers show 10 years ago where the female anchor turned to the metereologist who had mistakingly predicted snow the night before and said, "So Ed, where's that 6 inches you promised me last night?" ohmygod that's funny!!
Great blog name and very fitting for you!
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